SUMMARY BIBLIOGRAPHY

Insofar as grading goes, I think we all agree that the oral presentation takes more courage than the written bibliography. Thus, we do give a bit of an edge for “courage”. Nevertheless, some of you will choose to write a Summary Bibliography. If so – do a thorough job.

1. State your Research Topic, and why you chose this subject.

2. Compile a list of the 15 “Best” Internet resources. This list can include web sites, electronic mailing lists, and whatever else you may find – EXCEPT Chat Room conversations (Chat Rooms conversations are secondary authority, and they usually consist of subjects that would not be relevant to our class discussions).

3. Annotate the list. This means that you will write a brief (at least three sentences –introduction, facts, and conclusion) critique of each resource. Discuss how crowded the site is, how many broken links, how many links that led to sites you did not anticipate, how you thought the site had something important to say only to discover it was just rhetoric, etc. Compare the sites you have located to non-Internet resources.

Hand in Your Journal. Keep a journal recording your research process (the mistakes, the surprises, the dead-ends, the really bad sites, as well as the really good ones) and hand that in with your annotated list. Show how you followed a particular trail that led to your bibliography.

Include some of the sites you considered, but did not visit. Or, list some sites that you visited, but did not use – and why. How did you locate each site you eventually used in your bibliography (search engine, directory, referred by a friend, classmate, link from another site, word of mouth). Comment on each site as to its authority (primary, secondary); affiliation (who created/maintains it); currency (how recent is it); purpose (why is this site on the Internet); audience (who was the site written for, who is attracted).

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